Mr Finlayson confused

"Mr Finlayson is either confused or misrepresenting the facts about this Government's record on Treaty Settlements." Treaty Negotiations Minister Mark Burton said today.

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"Mr Finlayson is either confused or misrepresenting the facts about this Government's record on Treaty Settlements." Treaty Negotiations Minister Mark Burton said today.

"The facts remain that of the 21 settlements negotiated to date, National can claim only three settlements of substantial size: on fisheries, on the Waikato raupatu, and with NgaiTahu. The rest are smaller-five with a value of less than $1 million-and most left substantial issues to be settled. He also ignores the settlements that National tried to rush through, and failed." Mark Burton said

"The people of Whakatohea rejected outright the deal that National tried to cook up, and two other agreements fell apart almost as soon as they were reached.

"This Government has negotiated two large settlements from start to finish, done most of the substantive work on three more settlements, completed a further five settlements, and brought more groups than ever before into negotiations. Furthermore this Labour-led Government has not been afraid to tackle the complex issues left outstanding from settlements reached by the previous Government." He said

"Settling Treaty claims is a long term endeavour vitally important to our nation's future. This Government has set an ambitious but achieveable goal of settling all historical claims by 2020.

"Every settlement comes with new challenges to be resolved, and seemingly new standards for the Crown to be judged against. There have always been critics of the settlement process - my confidence in it is maintained by the growing number of claimant groups who are deciding to enter negotiations, and those who come out at the other end with greater confidence, greater resources, and greater ability to determine their own futures. " He said

"There is a myriad of detail unique to each negotiation that needs to be followed through by officials and the Iwi advisors, but direct engagement at the highest level is very important to settlement negotiations. As Minister in Charge of Treaty Negotiations, I lead many face to face negotiations between the claimants and the Crown, it is here that the most challenging issues are generally addressed.

"Mr Finlayson complains about the length of time taken to pass legislation yet he and his Party continue to vote against settlement legislation at every step of the way. If he is genuine about his concern for Iwi in the settlement process I am sure that he will support their settlement legislation. " Mark Burton said.